A method of producing lipids, containing the steps of: culturing a transformant wherein the expressions of a gene encoding any one of the following proteins (A) to (F) and a gene encoding an acyl-ACP thioesterase are enhanced, and producing fatty acids or lipids containing these fatty acids as components:
(A) a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2;
(B) a protein consisting of an amino acid sequence having 89% or more identity with the amino acid sequence of the protein (A), and having acyl-CoA synthetase activity;
(C) a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 4;
(D) a protein consisting of an amino acid sequence having 49% or more identity with the amino acid sequence of the protein (C), and having acyl-CoA synthetase activity;
(E) a protein consisting of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 6; and
(F) a protein consisting of an amino acid sequence having 85% or more identity with the amino acid sequence of the protein (E), and having acyl-CoA synthetase activity.

Soybean oil compositions with unique fatty acid profiles are disclosed. These oils can be derived by the suppression of endogenous soybean FAD2 and FAD3 genes and the expression of a stearoyl acyl ACP thioesterase. Soybean plants and seeds comprising these oils are also disclosed.

Disclosed herein are microorganisms containing exogenous or heterologous nucleic acid sequences, wherein the microorganisms are capable of growing on gaseous carbon dioxide, gaseous hydrogen, syngas, or combinations thereof. In some embodiments the microorganisms are chemotrophic bacteria that produce or secrete at least 10% of lipid by weight. Also disclosed are methods of fixing gaseous carbon into organic carbon molecules useful for industrial processes. Also disclosed are methods of manufacturing chemicals or producing precursors to chemicals useful in jet fuel, diesel fuel, and biodiesel fuel. Exemplary chemicals or precursors to chemicals useful in fuel production are alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, fatty acid alcohols, fatty acid aldehydes, desaturated hydrocarbons, unsaturated fatty acids, hydroxyl acids, or diacids with carbon chains between six and thirty carbon atoms long. Also disclosed are microorganisms and methods using disclosed microorganisms for the production of butanediol and its chemical precursors in low-oxygen or anaerobic fermentation. Also disclosed are microorganisms and methods using disclosed microorganisms for generating hydroxylated fatty acids in microbes through the transfer of enzymes that are known to hydroxylate fatty acids in plants or microbes. Also disclosed are microorganisms and methods using disclosed microorganisms for the production of shorter-chain fatty acids in microbes through the introduction of exogenous fatty acyl-CoA binding proteins.

Described herein are genetically-modified microorganisms for producing medium chain lauric acid and/or dodecanedioic acid and methods of using the microorganisms. The microorganisms contain a nucleic acid encoding an Umbellularia californica lauroyl ACP-thioesterase (BTE) operably linked to a promoter.

The disclosure relates to omega-hydroxylase-related fusion polypeptides that result in improved omega-hydroxylated fatty acid derivative production when expressed in recombinant host cells. The disclosure further relates to microorganisms for expressing the omega-hydroxylase-related fusion polypeptides for the production of omega-hydroxylated fatty acid derivatives.

Recombinant DNA techniques are used to produce oleaginous recombinant cells that produce triglyceride oils having desired fatty acid profiles and regiospecific or stereospecific profiles. Genes manipulated include those encoding stearoyl-ACP desaturase, delta 12 fatty acid desaturase, acyl-ACP thioesterase, ketoacyl-ACP synthase, and lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase. The oil produced can have enhanced oxidative or thermal stability, or can be useful as a frying oil, shortening, roll-in shortening, tempering fat, cocoa butter replacement, as a lubricant, or as a feedstock for various chemical processes. The fatty acid profile can be enriched in midchain profiles or the oil can be enriched in triglycerides of the saturated-unsaturated-saturated type.

Methods and compositions for the production of dielectric fluids from lipids produced by microorganisms are provided, including oil-bearing microorganisms and methods of low cost cultivation of such microorganisms. Microalgal cells containing exogenous genes encoding, for example, a sucrose transporter, a sucrose invertase, a fructokinase, a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme, a lipid pathway modification enzyme, a fatty acyl-ACP thioesterase, a desaturase, a fatty acyl-CoA/aldehyde reductase, and/or an acyl carrier protein are useful in manufacturing dielectric fluids.

An acyl-ACP thioesterase consisting of an amino acid sequence of the 115.sup.th to 274.sup.th amino acids set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1; an acyl-ACP thioesterase gene encoding the protein; a transformant having the gene; and a method of producing a lipid using the transformant.

The present invention relates to methods of producing industrial products from plant lipids, particularly from vegetative parts of plants. In particular, the present invention provides oil products such as biofuel, and processes for producing these products, as well as plants having an increased level medium chain fatty acids such as lauric acid and myristic acid. In one particular embodiment, the present invention relates to combinations of modifications in a fatty acid thioesterase and one or more acyltransferases. In an embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for extracting lipids. In another embodiment, the lipid is converted to one or more hydrocarbon products in harvested plant vegetative parts to produce alkyl esters of the fatty acids which are suitable for use as a renewable biofuel.

The present invention relates to extracted microbial lipids, microbial cells comprising the lipid, and extracts thereof. The present invention also relates to use of these lipids, cells and extracts in foods, feedstuffs and beverages.